The Universe 6 arc was arguably Dragon Ball Super’s most important. It was the first completely original story arc fans had gotten since Dragon Ball GT. Not just that, it was following the anime’s grueling retelling of Battle of Gods and Resurrection F.
It does some decent world building, has fine enough humor, and features action fairly similar to early Dragon Ball. That alone gives it some charm. Unfortunately, it’s also the arc that starts to firmly settle in DBS’ greater issues. Either way though, the Universe 6 Tournament makes for a nice way to kick off Dragon Ball Super’s original content.
10 Monaka
At the very bottom of the Universe 6 Tournament totem pole is none other than Monaka, the weakest member of Universe 7’s team and a character whose only purpose is to ape the exact same role Beerus had in both Battle of Gods and Resurrection F. He’s actually quite the funny character which makes his poor inclusion all the worse.
This role simply isn’t one that needed to be filled, and it actually takes depth away from Goku and Beerus’ relationship. Monaka’s only narrative purpose is to ensure that Hit has someone to lose to so that Universe 7 doesn’t end up losing the tournament on account of Goku’s forfeit.
9 Botamo
Botamo’s a strange character with even stranger powers, but he could have been interesting had he fought someone like Majin Buu. As is, though, fighting Goku is fine enough. Their match (in the manga, at least) really helps set the tone; and it’s nice to see Goku do some more strategic based fighting.
Botamo himself doesn’t seem all that physically powerful, though. He can send attacks to another dimension, effectively negating any damage, but Goku doesn’t even need to turn Super Saiyan to defeat Botamo. He’s able to casually throw him off the ring after a fairly brief warm up.
8 Piccolo
There was a time where Piccolo was basically guaranteed to top strongest character charts for Dragon Ball. Those days are long gone, though, and Dragon Ball Super is a brand new beast in and of itself. Piccolo just doesn’t compare anymore and his fight with Frost really puts things into perspective.
Despite Goku weakening Frost, Piccolo still fails to beat him. In both the anime and the manga, Piccolo gives up so that Vegeta can have four fights in a row. It’s ridiculous Toriyama chose to include Piccolo, but made no attempt at giving him some sort of training beforehand. Training that didn’t even need to be shown.
7 Magetta
Magetta is a lot like Botamo in that they’re both interesting characters who perhaps would have been more interesting had they fought anyone other than Goku and Vegeta respectively. If nothing else, Magetta’s fight against Vegeta is one of the latter’s most interesting matches. Magetta even matches to push Vegeta to Super Saiyan.
It ends in a very early Dragon Ball esque manner, but Magetta puts up a much better fight than either Botamo or Frost. That said, everything does seem to indicate that Magetta is weaker than Frost. After all, Frost is Freeza’s analogue and nothing indicates that Frost was fighting at full power.
6 Frost
Magetta seems stronger than Frost, but that’s mainly due to two things: Magetta’s fight happens after Frost’s and Frost is taken out effortlessly by Vegeta whereas the Prince struggles against Magetta. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that Frost had just gotten done fighting both Goku and Piccolo. It’d be silly if he still had the energy to fight Vegeta.
Not just that, Frost never got the chance to fight at 100% full power like Freeza. He chooses to fight dirty, but all signs point to him being at least stronger than base Freeza in Resurrection F. While that might not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, said Freeza was stronger than the entire supporting cast at the time.
5 Cabba
Cabba starts the tournament much weaker than he ends it, and that’s thanks to none other than his brand new master, Vegeta-sama. The dynamic between Vegeta and Cabba is arguably the single best thing to come out of Dragon Ball Super, and it’s the only novel direction Toriyama has taken Vegeta’s character since the end of the original manga.
As a Super Saiyan, Cabba manages to put up a fairly decent fight against the godly Vegeta. Though it’s worth mentioning that even in his base, Cabba wasn’t much weaker than Goku or Vegeta at the end of the Buu arc— which is still impressive at this point in Super.
4 Mr. Boo
More than any other arc in Dragon Ball Super, it’s the Universe 6 Tournament arc that solidifies DBS as the Goku and Vegeta show. The two are on a team of five, but only one other gets a real fight— and even then… Majin Boo doesn’t even get a match unlike Piccolo, keeping one of the strongest fighters in Universe 7 high and dry.
The manga takes a funnier approach than the manga, having Buu fail his entrance exam instead of just sleeping through the fight. It’s a much smarter reason for excluding Buu even if it’s still obnoxious in the grand scheme of things. Seriously, he could have solo’d the tournament up to Hit.
3 Vegeta
This is a good arc for Vegeta, and he doesn’t have a lot of those in Dragon Ball Super. More often than not, his character beats are purely derivative of the original series. When it comes to his relationship with Cabba, though, Vegeta is genuinely fleshed out as a character and given greater depth.
As a warrior, this arc is perhaps the closest he’s come to Goku in the entire series. Before Goku busts out Kaioken, it really seems that Goku and Vegeta are dead-even in power. Of note, Vegeta has the most fights in this story arc, taking on four of Universe 6’s five combatants.
2 Son Goku
Dragon Ball’s very own main character, it’s only natural he be one of the strongest characters around at all times. That said, it’s actually very rare that Goku be the strongest, especially in a tournament setting. More often than not, there’s always someone stronger than him— it’s one of the series’ core themes, after all.
That said, Goku certainly isn’t weak, especially not here. He’s confident, he’s in control, and he’s learning his way around God Ki. The anime has him bust out Kaioken to teach Hit a thing or two, but the manga features a Goku who manages to hold him own against Hit rather easily. Regardless of medium, Goku recognizes that Hit isn’t going all out and forfeits as a result.
1 Hit
Hit’s a hard character to pin down power wise. On one hand, the anime has him outright and explicitly stronger than Goku. On the other hand, the manga keeps things muddier and has Goku dominating their fight for the most part. Either way, the consistent thread is that Hit wasn’t going full power. That alone is enough to indicate he’s stronger than Goku.
Not just that, this is par for course for Dragon Ball. The 21st Tenkaichi Budokai had Jackie Chun, the 22nd had Tenshinhan, Baba had Grandpa Gohan, and the Tournament of Power has Jiren. Hit fits that tournament archetype perfectly.